Why You Should Cover Your Fryer At Night

Why You Should Cover Your Fryer At Night

Each and every restaurant sets up some kind of checklist for closing. The checklist usually includes tasks such as putting out the trash and recycling, cleaning counters and floors, checking and cleaning restrooms, cleaning ovens and cookers, and many other tasks. The objective is to get the facility clean so that people can get right to work the next day.

And, if the restaurant has deep-fat fryers, they must be put to sleep properly. The end of the day activity for fryers should include scooping out food residue; filtering and/or treating the oil in the fryer ; properly cleaning the fryers, which includes boiling out the fryer , draining fryer and rinsing it, which must include rinsing with water and vinegar or citric acid to ensure that all the caustic is neutralized; and refilling the fryer with the filtered oil and topping it off with fresh oil. And, when all this is done, be sure to put the cover back on the fryer .

You do not want to contaminate your cooking oil in any way, shape or form. But why cover it if it is going to be heated up the next morning? Whatever falls in will be killed, right? Well, you don’t want anything to fall in and you want to be sure that the cleaning compounds used on the floors, counters, ovens or anywhere else getting into the oil. Cleaning compounds contain metals such as sodium, calcium, magnesium and others. One does not need much cleaning compound to damage the oil. This is also why the neutralization step we just mentioned is so important. Residual cleaning compounds can badly damage oil, shorten its usable life and even create a safety issue. The soaps formed in the oil can cause excessive foaming which can create a fire hazard and increase the chances of burns.

There is one more reason to cover the fryers ; protect them from drip from the exhaust fans and hood. Hoods and exhaust fans pull out moisture and volatile compounds from the oil and some of that will deposit in the hoods. They can accumulate and drip back into the oil adulterating it and damaging it.

So, follow the checklist to the letter and make sure that the fryer is covered before you turn out the lights and lock the door.